When You're Done Taking Your Thoughts for Drive
We just finished the general conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was wonderful.
My best memories aren’t of a specific talk, but instead a very special feeling.
God knows who I am and loves me.
I wish that my children would enjoy the same feeling today. They stayed up pretty late last night and that always makes it harder to feel the spirit when you’re tired.
In our town finding school bus drivers is hard.
The company in charge offers a hefty bonus for new drivers with licenses. For various reasons it’s not a job I’m interested in having. One reason is that with 4 kids, both my wife and I each feel like we’re bus drivers already.
So far this year we’ve done trips to wrestling, tennis, basketball, trumpet, choir, orthodontist, urgent care, and church group. All instead of pursuing the things we see as adding value. I’m sure other readers have longer lists. This one may not be as diverse but there’s a lot of repeat business in what’s summarized above.
The bonus the bus company offers gets paid after a certain amount of time with the company. The bonus you get paid as a parent comes after a certain amount of time as well. Like last night when my oldest boy talked to me about his future–nothing special–but he shared his feelings. He thought about his words.
I once heard that parenting isn’t always about quality time, but quantity time.
Quantity leads to quality opportunities.
The road to becoming a better person is generally not without its potholes of frustration. Learning to navigate through those potholes and overcome the adversity that allows us to reach our goals can be daunting, but also rewarding.
One of the mental traps worth avoiding is the comparison to others.
Everyone I’ve ever met in life is flawed, yet some seem to be having an easier time than I. Experience has taught me another good one-liner:
Just because they’re better at something doesn’t make them a better person.
And that’s not intended as a line to tear down their accomplishments, but rather to simply acknowledge that maybe I don’t know them well enough yet to understand the challenges they face in life. This concept simply helps me avoid the mental trap of thinking that others are somehow better in general than anyone else.
Your mom and I are here for you, but we’re not here to solve your problems.
